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Article: Iraq borderland could be strategic, but deadly, ground zero.(Chicago Tribune)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- October 11, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BASHEEQA, Iraq _ Across the blue sky of northern Iraq and in the golden hills and parched olive groves below, Iraqi artillery forces and U.S. fighter jets dodge one another in increasingly common episodes that both sides worry are a prelude to war.
The Iraqis move camouflaged, anti-aircraft cannons on fruit trucks, conceal surface-to-air batteries in orchards and farmhouses, and plant weaponry near playgrounds and mosques in Mosul, the Americans say.
American and British planes skirt Iraqi "popcorn" fire as they patrol a protectorate zone established after the Persian Gulf war. Baghdad claims hundreds of civilians have been killed since 1991 in strikes ...